The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

The Tales of Hoffmann
263
gone, I knew that Marty had it, and if he went down and it was gone, he
knew I had it. So we knew of each other back then, but we hadn’t met. Pat
knew that I was just a huge fan of Michael’s, and he knew that they were
married, and it just so happened that we were all in New York at the same
time, so he arranged for us to go have dinner, and we all went out to a
restaurant, and it was just wonderful.
Powell was this wonderful old British gent. The way he talked about the
business, when he was making propaganda movies for the war, the influence
of the producers and studios and the rank organizations—great old
war stories. It was like sitting down with Dr. Watson. Absolutely droll, really
calm, spoke in complete sentences and not at all impressed with his own
stuff, wishing that he could do more, wishing that he had had the benefit of
some of the new technologies. He was a real craftsman.
Critics have noted that Fantasia might have been one of the influences
on Hoffmann. Do you see that?
Romero: Powell talked about loving Fantasia. If in any way it was an influence,
I think maybe it gave him the idea of taking classical music and trying
to visualize it. I don’t think he was trying to imitate or emulate it stylistically
at all. I think he was just taking music and translating it from whatever
ideas come into your head. I mean, I’ve often sat and listened to classical
music and imagined visuals for it, imagined little stories that could go with
it. Maybe that’s what he meant. I don’t see any visual parallels.
Powell made his name in literary movies and ballet, and ended with
one of the first psychological horror films, Peeping Tom, and other
kinds of movies. You began with horror and went to other genres. Is
there a parallel?
Romero: I’ve been typecast. I wouldn’t just stick with this genre if anybody
would hire me to do something else. I don’t do films about men with hockey
masks with knives. I try to put some content in there, at least express my
opinions or do some social satirizing. I think that is what fantasy is supposed
to be used for, as metaphor. I think the influence is there, and I think
that it made me, rather than just do some slasher thing, want to use it more
for social commentary.